Category: Zymology

What’s wrong with unfiltered beer? Nothing, traditionally speaking. Grains like oats and wheat, which brewers have used for hundreds of years, are known for rendering cloudy beer. But when it’s a hazy American IPA, people start arguing.

Common ale yeast actually possesses resistant cell walls that makes it difficult to digest. New research now suggests that the principal reason our bodies are able to derive nutrients from yeast is with help from friendly bacteria that resides almost exclusively in our gut.

With the recent boom in wild ales and sour beers, yeast is having a serious moment in the spotlight. But more experimentation means breweries risk exposure to cross-contamination and infection. That’s why Avery Brewing Co. teamed up with the University of Colorado to genetically sequence yeast strains.

The story of the world’s first Leafcutter Ant Saison starts in the days leading up to São Paulo, Brazil’s O Mercado, an epic gastronomy fair that brings together more than 20,000 foodies, chefs, restaurateurs and a handful of brewers.

Over the last few years, there have been rumblings that olive oil can be added to beer instead of oxygen. Like milk fortifying our bones, yeast need oxygen to build strong cell walls. The idea is that olive oil contains oleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid that could be enough to promote yeast growth.

A group of young scientists in Germany have managed to brew a beer with added flavors that doesn’t break the Reinheitsgebot, the 1516 purity law. By tinkering with the genes in yeast, students at the Technical University of Munich have engineered the microorganisms to impart additional flavors and substances to their beers, like lemon and caffeine.